Cristina Marcu is a contemporary artist blending impressionist and expressionist styles. Her brightly colored works are inspired by the Russian and Romanian folk art that surrounded her as a child in her native country of Romania. Cristina was born in Communist Moldovia, Romania in the politically charged 1960’s. Beginning at age seven, she attended the George Enescu Conservatory of Music where she studied classical piano.

Romanian painters such as Nicolae Grigorescu and Corneliu Baba inspired Cristina from an early age and while she harbored a childhood dream to be a painter she turned that inspiration towards her musical studies. At age thirteen Cristina and her sister followed their parents to the United States and lived in New York where she continued her musical studies. Cristina received her degree BA in Piano Performance from USC and began performing in concerts as well as teaching music privately.

Cristina began nurturing her painting aspirations in the early 1990’s. Her desire to paint became so strong that eventually she gave up teaching and performing to pursue her lifelong dream of being a painter. Bright yellows, reds and oranges, accented with clear blues and greens echoes her romance with color. She looks to the French Impressionists for inspiration: Van Gogh for his bold colors and Matisse for his sense of line and design. Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky's early landscapes played an important role in the development of Cristina’s ever evolving work and like Kandinsky, Cristina has developed a deep desire to connect her spirituality and her music to her art.

Fluent in various mediums Cristina utilizes oil, watercolor and acrylic to paint diverse subject matter, with her focus primarily on landscapes, seascapes and still life. In addition, Cristina has authored Sounds of Color, a children’s book combining audio awareness and primary color recognition. Cristina Marcu's paintings are found in private collections across the United States and Europe.  

Education

• USC School of Music, Bachelor of Arts

• Art Center College of Design, Pasadena

  Member Affiliations

• Marin Arts Council

  Located in Northern California MAC is a nonprofit organization with a highly visible and effective network of programs, services and events that is changing the way people look at the arts

• Valley Artists Guild

  The Valley Artists Guild (VAG) is founded on the belief that when individual artists join together in creating their destinies, their growth and impact is multiplied in their own lives and throughout the world. With visual art exhibitions, ongoing education and creative interaction, we empower artists to fulfill their highest potential. Laguna Plein Air Painters Association

  Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA) links the strong plein air movement of the early California painters to the present ones and creates a bond amongst the contemporary plein air painters throughout the nation. See Cristina Marcu's featured work at LPAPA.
   

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